Pakistan's nuclear weapons development was in response to the loss of East Pakistan in 1971's Bangladesh Liberation War. Bhutto called a meeting of senior scientists and engineers on 20 January 1972, in Multan, which came to be known as "Multan meeting".
Abdul Qadeer Khan, NI, HI, FPAS (/ˈɑːbdəl ˈkɑːdɪər ˈkɑːn/ ( listen); Urdu: عبد القدیر خان; 1 April 1936 – 10 October 2021), known as A. Q. Khan, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer who is colloquially known as the "father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program".
Both countries possess nuclear arsenals of comparable size. Pakistan holds about 100-120 nuclear weapons, which can be delivered by aircraft and land-based missiles, while India's nuclear arsenal is around 90-110 nuclear weapons, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) began its nuclear weapons program in the 1950s with significant help from the Soviet Union, which contributed advisors and technical equipment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards five facilities in Pakistan: Kanupp and Chasma Nuclear power plants, the two Parr research reactors and the Hawks Bay depot.
After Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, the nuclear program was consolidated when physicist Raja Ramanna joined the efforts. Another nuclear test by China eventually led to India's decision to build nuclear weapons in 1967 and conduct its first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha, in 1974.
In addition to the ICBMs, the report stated that China has approximately 1,100 short-range ballistic missiles, although it does not have the warhead capacity to equip them all with nuclear weapons. In 2022, FAS estimated China's military stockpile in 350 nuclear warheads.
Australia does not possess any nuclear weapons and is not seeking to become a nuclear weapon state. Australia's core obligations as a non-nuclear-weapon state are set out in the NPT. They include a solemn undertaking not to acquire nuclear weapons.
Since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan has been a staunch upholder of antinuclear sentiments. Its postwar Constitution forbids the establishment of offensive military forces, and in 1967 it adopted the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, ruling out the production, possession, or introduction of nuclear weapons.
The Argentine government agreed to sell Israel yellowcake (uranium oxide). Between 1963 and 1966, about 90 tons of yellowcake were allegedly shipped to Israel from Argentina in secret. By 1965 the Israeli reprocessing plant was completed and ready to convert the reactor's fuel rods into weapons grade plutonium.
For 2022, India ranks 4 out of the 142 countries considered for the annual GFP review. It holds a PwrIndx score of 0.0979, and a score of 0.0000 is considered 'perfect'. In terms of the total power index, India is only behind the United States, Russia, and China, while Pakistan is far behind stands at 10th place.
Israel: An estimated 90 nuclear warheads, with fissile material for up to 200. Pakistan: Approximately 165 nuclear warheads.
According to official U.S. assessments, Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and has not resumed it. This program's goal, according to U.S. officials, was to develop an implosion-style nuclear weapon for Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missile.
Prime minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan allegedly, through Pakistan's former top scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, supplied key data, stored on CDs, on uranium enrichment and information to North Korea in exchange for missile technology around 1990–1996, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. In total, the global nuclear stockpile is close to 13,000 weapons.
The United States ruled out redeploying tactical nuclear weapons in 2021. Interestingly, in November 2022, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup concurred that South Korea was “currently not thinking to deploy tactical nukes on the Korean peninsula.”
In 2022 South Korea announced it had developed submarine launched ballistic missiles; South Korea is the only nation with SLBMs that does not possess nuclear weapons. In February 2023, Leader of the People Power Party Chung Jin Suk said that South Korea might need nuclear weapons.
Currently, there is no evidence of Taiwan possessing any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons; but nuclear weapons from the United States have been deployed in the past during periods of heightened regional tensions with China, such as during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Since joining the NPT, Australia has been an example to the world on non-proliferation and disarmament. We have promoted the use of nuclear safeguards (measures that ensure a state is meeting its non-proliferation commitments) and we have prevented the spread of other weapons of mass destruction.
Nuclear power stations are expensive and take too long to build. CSIRO says by far the lowest cost way of producing electricity is with solar and wind even when factoring in storage. In contrast, the costs of building and operating nuclear in Australia remain prohibitively high.
Possessing few strategic targets for a northern hemisphere conflict, Australia would only suffer the after-effects of a nuclear war. Dr Norm Sanders breaks down why we're relatively safe.
Iran is not known to currently possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and has signed treaties repudiating the possession of WMDs including the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
As of January 2019, France possesses approximately 300 nuclear warheads, most of which are designed for delivery by submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with the remainder affixed to air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) carried by strategic bombers.